AUSTIN, Tex--The Fairmont Austin, a 1,000-plus-room, 37-story hotel, will break ground early next month in downtown.

Developer Manchester Texas Financial Group (MTFG) secured project financing from Colony Capital LLC for the $370 million luxury hotel.

“Colony Capital is our primary funding source,” Doug Manchester, president of MTFG, told GlobeSt.com. “Along with our own equity, the combination has allowed us to break ground on this extraordinary project.”

Los Angeles-based Colony Capital has extensive experience in the hospitality sector including investments in over 500,000 rooms across 4,300 hotels in 100-plus countries. Their hospitality investments have included the Savoy Hotel Group, One&Only and The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua in Hawaii.

Final designs for the Fairmont Austin call for 1,066 rooms, plus four levels of underground parking, totaling nearly 1.4 million square feet. The hotel will rise approximately 595 feet, making it the second tallest structure on downtown Austin's skyline, which is currently dominated by the 56-story, 680-foot Austonian residential tower.

The property will be built on a 1.74-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Cesar Chavez and Red River streets, and will be connected to the Austin Convention Center by an aerial promenade being designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners, the same firm selected by the Waller Creek Conservancy to develop a master plan for the Waller Creek area. Waller Creek runs along the northwestern edge of the Fairmont Austin location.

Todd Runkle, principal and managing director of the Austin Gensler office, describes the design of the Fairmont as a significant architectural contribution to the city's skyline as well as a catalyst for the development along Waller Creek.

“The design of the building incorporates a high level of sustainability including an energy efficient exterior skin, building systems while using local materials and promoting a more walkable downtown Austin,” Runkle says. “We feel this project will raise the level of architecture in the hospitality industry as well as in Central Texas.”

The project marks Fairmont's second hotel in Texas and joins The Fairmont Dallas, located in downtown.